Foldaway wall bed mounting

ABSTRACT

A foldaway wall bed mounting to fold a bed frame to a wall comprising support plates, and a folding mechanism. The support plates are spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wall connector. The folding mechanism is attachable to each of the support plates comprises a spring assembly, and a pivotable arm. The spring assembly comprises spring members fastened to openings defined on a side of the support plates, and the distal ends of the spring members are fastened to openings on a spring bracket. The pivotable arm is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the spring bracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted to engage with a side rail of the bed frame, whereby the spring assembly provides controlled movement of pivotable arm which enables movement of the bed frame between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Patentapplication No. 62/136,723 filed in the United States Patent andTrademark Office on Mar. 23, 2015, entitled “FOLDABLE BED MOUNTINGASSEMBLY”. The specification of the above referenced patent applicationis incorporated herein by reference in it's entirely

BACKGROUND

Foldaway beds, such as, wall beds or murphy beds and similarwall-enclosed pieces of furniture have been widely used where availablespace within a room is limited. Foldaway beds have become increasinglypopular in recent years because of the limited space available in homes,wherein the bed can be extended from a folded position when needed toprovide temporary sleeping accommodations and can be folded back againstthe wall when not in use. These type of beds are generally provided witha folding mechanism that allows the bed to pivot upwards from itshorizontal usage position to a vertical storage position adjacent to orcontained within a wall. Generally the folding mechanism comprises aspring loaded system or piston and cylinder assembly.

However, conventional foldaway beds have certain serious limitations dueto complicated construction, difficulty in folding or extending and moreimportantly have safety issues due to methods of mounting to a supportwall. Typically, foldaway bed mechanisms are mounted onto wooden sidepanels, which are in turn have an attached nail rail at the top of thewooden side panels. The nail rail is further screwed to the wall studs,thus holding the side panels in position. Here, the top rail serves asthe only point of attachment for the entire wooden panel/foldaway bedassembly to the support wall.

There exists numerous instances where the top rail anchors or screwshave pulled out of the wall studs causing the springs to collapse thebed inflicting serious injury or death. Since, these beds are marketedas a do-it-yourself type product, customers may not follow theinstallation directions correctly. For example: customers may use thewrong screws, easy anchors, mollies or fail to anchor to one or morestuds. In addition, the spring mechanism bears hundreds of pounds ofpressure when the foldaway bed is operated, and the pressure is exertedon the nail rail attachment, which may cause the entire bed assembly tofall or pull away from the wall support.

Therefore, there exists a potential need to solve the above mentionedproblem by a secure bed mounting means such as a foldaway wall bedmounting that consequently enables the safe mounting and easy operationof foldaway beds, including murphy beds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The foldaway wall bed mounting disclosed herein is configured to fold abed frame to a wall, and the foldaway wall bed mounting comprises a pairof support plates, and a folding mechanism. The pair of support platesare spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solidwall support via a wall connector. The folding mechanism is attachableto each of the support plates, and the folding mechanism comprises aspring assembly, and a pivotable arm. The spring assembly comprisesmultiple spring members fastened to a series of openings defined on aside of the support plates, and the distal ends of the spring membersare fastened to openings positioned on one end of a spring bracket. Thepivotable arm is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the springbracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted to engage with a side rail ofthe bed frame, whereby the spring assembly provides controlled movementof pivotable arm which enables movement of the bed frame between avertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises aspring cover configured to cover the spring assembly. In an embodiment,the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises a stop lever pivotallyconnected between the pivotable arm and the spring assembly, where thestop lever is configured to restrict the inclination of the bed frame ata predetermined angle between the vertical folded position and thehorizontal open position. In an embodiment, the spring bracket isgenerally T shaped comprising multiple openings on one side to receiveand fasten the spring members, and a single opening on the opposing endto receive and fasten the pivotable arm.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises anadjustable leg leveler fastened to a lower end of the support plates,wherein the adjustable leg leveler comprises a threaded section withnuts to increase and decrease the height of the pair of support plates.In an embodiment, the wall connector is generally of L shape comprisingone or more sleeved openings, where the wall connector is connected tothe support plate via fasteners, further where sleeved openings allowlinear traversal of the fasteners to adjust for different widths of wallpanels. Additionally, it allows for different types and thicknesses ofwall based moldings. In an embodiment, the pivotable arm is attached viabrass bushings to the support plate and spring bracket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a left side foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 1B is a side view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 1C is a rear view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIGS. 2A and 2B shows cross sectional views of pivoting ends of thepivotable arm of FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 4A illustrates a perspective view of the foldaway wall bed mountingattached with a bed frame.

FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the left side foldaway wall bedmounting attached to the left side of bed frame of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4C is a perspective view of the right side foldaway wall bedmounting attached to the right side of bed frame of FIG. 4A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a left side foldaway wall bed mounting100, FIG. 1B is a side view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100, andFIG. 1C is a rear view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100. Thefoldaway wall bed mounting 100 is configured to fold a bed frame 400 asshown in FIG. 4, to a wall, and the foldaway wall bed mounting 100comprises a pair of support plates 101, and a folding mechanism 103. Thepair of support plates 101 are spaced apart and mountableperpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wallconnector 102. The folding mechanism 103 is attachable to each of thesupport plates 101, the folding mechanism 103 comprises a springassembly 104, and a pivotable arm 108. The spring assembly 104 comprisesmultiple spring members 105 fastened to a series of openings 106 definedon a side of the support plates 101, and the distal ends of the springmembers 105 are fastened to openings 106 positioned on one end of aspring bracket 107. The pivotable arm 108 is hingedly connected to anopposing end of the spring bracket 107, and the pivotable arm 108 isadapted to engage with a side rail 400 a of the bed frame 400, wherebythe spring assembly 104 provides controlled movement of pivotable arm108 which enables movement of the bed frame 400 between a verticalfolded position and a horizontal open position.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises astop lever 109 pivotally connected between the pivotable arm 108 and thespring assembly 104, where the stop lever 109 is configured to restrictthe inclination of the bed frame 400 at a predetermined angle betweenthe vertical folded position and the horizontal open position. In anembodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises aspring cover 110 configured to cover the spring assembly 104 as shown inFIG. 1C. In an embodiment, the spring bracket 107 is, for example, agenerally T shaped element comprising multiple openings 107 a on oneside to receive and fasten the spring members 105, and a single opening107 b on the opposing end to receive and fasten the pivotable arm 108.In working, a user raises the bed frame 400 by unlocking the pivotablearm 108 which enables the user to raise the bed to a desired angle. Thestop lever 109 pivotally connected between the pivotable arm 108 locksthe bed at the desired angle as preferred by the user, where the tensionin the spring members 105 disallow a sudden collapse of the bed definedby the bed frame 400.

FIGS. 2A and 2B shows cross sectional views of pivoting ends of thepivotable arm 108 of FIG. 1B. In an embodiment, the pivotable arm 108 isattached via brass bushings 111 to the support plate 101 and springbracket 107. The pivotable arm 108 attached to the support plate 101 andspring bracket 107, and pivots around pivot points comprising brassbushings 111 and a locking section positioned on the wall connector 102.It also shows a spring cover 110 for covering the spring members 105from, for example, interfering with external elements like bedding,fabrics etc. The spring cover 110 further protects user fingers fromjamming into the spring members 105 while operating the bed assemblywhich is defined by the bed frame 400. A suitable lubricant, forexample, grease is applied between the brass bushings 111 and thepivotable arm 108 for smooth movement of the pivotable arm 108 incontact with the brass bushings 111.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of the foldaway wall bed mounting100. As shown in FIG. 3 and in FIGS. 1A-1C, a left side foldaway wallbed mounting 100 is shown, and it comprises a support plate 101mountable perpendicularly to a support wall using a wall connector 102.The support plate 101 is connected to the wall connector 102 usingconnecting means, for example, HT nuts. The spring assembly 104comprising multiple spring members 105 is attached to the spring bracket107, where the spring bracket 107 is attached to a pivotable arm 108adapted to engage with a side rail 400 a of a bed frame 400. The wallconnector 102 further allows for various depths of wood side panels byuse of slots in wall connector 102. The foldaway wall bed mounting 100further comprises a stop lever 109, for locking and holding thepivotable arm 108 in a partially extended position. The support plate101 further comprises an adjustable foot support, for adjusting theheight and level of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 from the floor.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprisesan adjustable leg leveler 112 fastened to a lower end 101 a of thesupport plates 101, wherein the adjustable leg leveler 112 comprises athreaded section 112 a with nuts to increase and decrease the height ofthe pair of support plates 101. In an embodiment, the wall connector 102is generally of L shape comprising one or more sleeved openings 113,wherein the wall connector 102 is connected to the support plate 101 viafasteners 114, further where the sleeved openings 113 allow lineartraversal of the fasteners 114 to adjust for different widths of wallpanels. Additionally, the sleeved openings 113 allows for differenttypes and thicknesses of wall based moldings. The sleeved openings 113are used to adjust for the depth of the perpendicular side panels and/orthe thickness of any wall base molding. The pivotable arm 108 ispivotally attachable to the support plate 101 via fastener elements 115.The support plate 101 further comprises adjustable leg leveler 112, thesupport plate 101 can be mounted to a wall using wall connector 102secured with a threaded fastener 114 and associated component such as awasher 114 a.

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrates multiple views showing the attachment of thefoldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached with a bed frame 400. FIG. 4Aillustrates a perspective view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100attached with a bed frame 400. FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the leftside foldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached to the left side of bedframe 400 of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a perspective view of the right sidefoldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached to the right side of bed frame400 of FIG. 4A. The foldaway wall bed mounting 100 is adapted to receivea bed frame 400 comprised of at least two side frame members or siderails 400 a onto the left and right mounting units or foldaway wall bedmountings 100. The pivotable arm 108 on each of the foldaway wall bedmountings 100 is adapted to receive an engaging member present on eachside rail 400 a of the bed frame 400 and the spring assembly 104 enablescontrolled movement of pivotable arm 108 between horizontal openposition for usage and vertical closed position for stowing the beddefined by the bed frame 400.

The bed frame 400 comprises a head rail fixed to the side rail 400 a,which comprises screws 401 for engaging with the opening located in thepivotable arm 108 attached to the support plate 101. FIG. 4C shows amagnified view of the side rail 400 a of bed frame 400 attached to theright side foldaway wall bed mountings 100. The side rail 400 a of bedframe 400 is attached to the pivotable arm 108 using fasteners 402, suchas nuts, screws and washers. In an example, the foldaway wall bedmountings 100 enables secure mounting of the spring loaded foldingmechanism 103 to the bottom of a solid support wall and or sill plateand also allows optional attachment of nail rail, of wood panel, to wallstuds. One of the advantages of the present foldaway wall bed mountings100 is the ability to safely attach the bed frame 400, together with thefolding means and ease of operation, including unfolding for use andfolding back for stowing, without any need of attachment of the top woodpanel nail rail to wall studs.

The foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose ofexplanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the presentconcept disclosed herein. While the concept has been described withreference to various embodiments, it is understood that the words, whichhave been used herein, are words of description and illustration, ratherthan words of limitation. Further, although the concept has beendescribed herein with reference to particular means, materials, andembodiments, the concept is not intended to be limited to theparticulars disclosed herein; rather, the concept extends to allfunctionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are withinthe scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art, having thebenefit of the teachings of this specification, may affect numerousmodifications thereto and changes may be made without departing from thescope and spirit of the concept in its aspects.

I claim:
 1. A foldaway wall bed mounting configured to fold a bed frameto a wall, comprising: a pair of support plates spaced apart andmountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via awall connector; a folding mechanism attachable to each of the supportplates, the folding mechanism comprising; a spring assembly comprising aplurality of spring members fastened to a series of openings defined ona side of the support plates, and distal ends of the spring membersfastened to openings positioned on one end of a spring bracket; apivotable arm, wherein the pivotable arm is hingedly connected to anopposing end of the spring bracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted toengage with a side rail of the bed frame, wherein the spring assemblyprovides controlled movement of pivotable arm which enables movement ofthe bed frame between a vertical folded position and a horizontal openposition.
 2. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, furthercomprising a spring cover configured to cover the spring assembly. 3.The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, further comprising stop leverpivotally connected between the pivotable arm and the spring assembly,wherein the stop lever is configured to restrict the inclination of thebed frame at a predetermined angle between the vertical folded positionand the horizontal open position.
 4. The foldaway wall bed mounting ofclaim 1, wherein the spring bracket is generally T shaped comprisingmultiple openings on one side to receive and fasten the spring members,and a single opening on the opposing end to receive and fasten thepivotable arm.
 5. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, furthercomprising an adjustable leg leveler fastened to a lower end of thesupport plates, wherein the adjustable leg leveler comprises a threadedsection with nuts to increase and decrease the height of the pair ofsupport plates.
 6. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, whereinthe wall connector is generally of L shape comprising one or moresleeved openings, wherein the wall connector is connected to the supportplate via fasteners, further wherein the sleeved openings allow lineartraversal of the fasteners to adjust for different widths of wallpanels.
 7. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, wherein thepivotable arm is attached via brass bushings to the support plate andspring bracket.